In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Somebody's baby boy ain't coming home tonight
We don't need no baseball bats
We don't need no silver ghats
But we're gonna fight tonight
Put up your dukes and fight
Big brother's just standing on the side
Watching you flex your pride
But you know if they all jump in
Big brother's got your skin
The ice cream truck it sings no more
All the kids from school are keeping score
You swing and you duck and you hit the floor
but you gotta get up at least once more
Mama comes screaming down the stairs
Everybody looks but nobody scared
Mama can't believe that nobody cares
It's her baby boy how do they dare
Mama says bitch come over here
If you're so tough you'll have no fear
But why'd you bring all your friends
And the whole damn school
To watch my baby boy go down like a fool
But brother says mama they're the same damn size
Got to let him grow up and get street wise
But mama says baby go get that bat
And come back down and beat some ass
Somebody's baby boy ain't coming home tonight
One wrong move and it'll be too late
Mama won't be making no birthday cake
It all went down one afternoon
In Brooklyn
We don't need no baseball bats
We don't need no silver ghats
But we're gonna fight tonight
Put up your dukes and fight
Big brother's just standing on the side
Watching you flex your pride
But you know if they all jump in
Big brother's got your skin
The ice cream truck it sings no more
All the kids from school are keeping score
You swing and you duck and you hit the floor
but you gotta get up at least once more
Mama comes screaming down the stairs
Everybody looks but nobody scared
Mama can't believe that nobody cares
It's her baby boy how do they dare
Mama says bitch come over here
If you're so tough you'll have no fear
But why'd you bring all your friends
And the whole damn school
To watch my baby boy go down like a fool
But brother says mama they're the same damn size
Got to let him grow up and get street wise
But mama says baby go get that bat
And come back down and beat some ass
Somebody's baby boy ain't coming home tonight
One wrong move and it'll be too late
Mama won't be making no birthday cake
It all went down one afternoon
In Brooklyn
Lyrics submitted by diabolical
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Ok so like people have said a fight between 2 young boys. But I don’t think it’s just one fight, it’s a series of fights that end up escalating and upping the ante till one of them dies.
“We don't need no baseball bats We don't need no silver ghats But we're gonna fight tonight Put up your dukes and fight”
Pretty self explanatory, a fist fight. But remember the first 2 lines, they’ll come into play later.
“All the kids from school are keeping score You swing and you duck and you hit the floor but you gotta get up at least once more”
Everyone’s keeping score so it‘s more than one fight, by hitting the floor he either got knocked out or didn’t win that fight whatever. But he has to do it again to rid of the shame of being beaten.
“But why'd you bring all your friends And the whole damn school To watch my baby boy go down like a fool”
The mother of the beaten boy is obviously upset in finding her son beaten and feels he’s being picked on and is outnumbered.
“But mama says baby go get that bat And come back down and beat some ass”
And it sounds like because of that she recommends he goes out with a bat for the next fight.
“One wrong move and it'll be too late Mama won't be making no birthday cake”
So I guess he did go out with the bat, possibly beat the other boy or was shot before he had a chance. It was just a fist fight, but it escalated. Judging from the first 2 lines if one boy brought a bat as retaliation, than the next thing after for the other would be a gun “silver gat”.